Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend


Mark Wilkerson - 2006
    Author Mark Wilkerson interviewed Townshend himself and several of Townshend's friends and associates for this biography.

Strange Ritual


David Byrne - 1995
    200 color photos.

Ordinary Girl: The Journey


Donna Summer - 2003
    signed books

Hound Dog


Jerry Leiber - 2009
    They set records--in four hours they wrote four songs that became #1 hits. Their story is also the story of rock 'n' roll--and a trend-setting era they helped to create. - Their own story: Both were born in 1933--Leiber in Baltimore, Stoller on Long Island. They met in Los Angeles in 1950 and went on to write more hits than any other song writing team with the exception of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. With the help of veteran music writer David Ritz, they tell their incredible story in their own words.- Great stories about a great era: Jerry Leiber's parents ran a grocery store in a black neighborhood in Baltimore; he learned about R&B from their customers. Mike Stoller's parents sent him to integrated summer camps, where he received an education in boogie-woogie. When the duo met Elvis (they wrote "Jailhouse rock" for him), they were surprised to discover a kindred spirit in the King, who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the blues. They wrote songs for the Coasters, the Drifters, and Ben e. King. Working in the famous Brill Building in New York City, they mentored Carole King and Burt Bacharach and also helped out a pushy kid named Phil Spector.- The birth of rock 'n' roll: Leiber and Stoller were a vital component of rock 'n' roll's early sound. As songwriters, they teamed catchy hooks with the rhythms of R&B and swing, crafting hundreds of classic hits; as producers, they revolutionized the recording industry. Their memoir will be a must-read for music fans.

Magdalena Mountain: A Novel


Robert Michael Pyle - 2018
    At the center of this story of majesty and magic in the natural world are three Magdalenas—Mary, a woman whose uncertain journey opens the book; Magdalena Mountain, shrouded in mystery and menace; and the all-black Magdalena Alpine butterfly, the most elusive of several rare and beautiful species found on the mountain. And high in the Colorado Rocky Mountain wilderness, sharing the remote territory of the Magdalena butterfly, lives the enigmatic Oberon, a reluctant de facto leader of The Grove, a diverse community of monks who share a devotion to Nature. Converging in the same wilderness are October Carson, a beachcomber-wanderer in pursuit of the alpine butterflies he collects for museums; James Mead, a young graduate student intent upon learning the ecology of this seductive creature; and the enigmatic Mary Glanville, who also seeks the butterfly but can't remember why. While the mystery surrounding Mary takes a menacing turn, their shared quest pulls them deeper into the high mountain wilderness culminating in a harrowing encounter on the stony slopes of Magdalena Mountain. "Pyle has the ability to find wonder in the mundane and beauty in the unpretentious." —Library Journal "Pyle's laid-back humor is appealing and his descriptive talents are poetic." —Publishers Weekly

Lyrics 1964-2008


Paul Simon - 2008
    A landmark compilation of popular music, this collection contains Paul Simon's lyrics from his first album in 1964 to the present, now with 2011’s So Beautiful Or So What?

Thin Air


Storm Constantine - 1999
    Author Storm Constantine was intrigued by this story and found herself thinking ‘What if...?’ Thin Air is the novel that sprang from her ideas. While the characters in this book are not based upon any existing people, alive, dead or missing, the mystery was enough to inspire a story.Dex is the front man of a successful band, and appears to have the perfect rock star life with his journalist partner, Jay. But Jay’s existence is shattered by Dex’s sudden disappearance. The mystery is never solved, and Dex is never found: alive or dead. Some years later, after Jay has got her life back together, strange events begin to unfold that suggest that Dex is still around. While it gradually becomes clear to Jay that there is more to the mystery than even she thought possible, malign forces begin to close in on her with the apparent intent of keeping the truth behind Dex’s disappearance forever hidden.Jay can only follow the clues where they lead her, and that is into territory beyond normal human perception. In the bizarre town of Lestholme, she comes upon a community of the lost, people whose lives have been ruined by media attention, and it is in this surreal place that Jay must penetrate to the heart of the mystery, and discover what really happened to the man she loves, who vanished into thin air.Capturing the ambience of the music scene of the 90s, Thin Air is one of Storm’s best-loved novels.

What Would Dolly Do?: How to Be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World


Lauren Marino - 2018
    One of twelve children raised in a shack in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Dolly Parton grew to become an international superstar famous for classic songs such as "Jolene," "9 to 5," "The Coat of Many Colors," and "I Will Always Love You." She is a reflection of the American dream, a role model for the ages, and a mentor to a whole new generation of entertainers. There is much to be learned from her unique brand, her big heart and spirituality, her grit and work ethic. This lively, illustrated book--part biography, part inspiration, part words of wisdom and life lessons--highlights the very best of the "Dolly Mama," from her quotable Dollyisms, unrelenting positivity, and powerful spirituality, to her belief in the human ability to overcome adversity. Drawing on Dolly's two autobiographies, cookbooks and songs; as well as artifacts; books by her family members; biographies; and decades worth of television, print interviews and performances, What Would Dolly Do? shows you how to tap into your Inner Dolly with confidence, faith, and humor.

The Marryin' Kind


Nancy J. Parra - 2004
    Unfortunately, her father disagrees and comes up with an ingenious plan. To curb the love life of his youngest, Robert Morgan proclaims that neither of his younger daughters can marry until Maddie does. This causes a stir and a generous pot is set up for whoever can take Maddie off the market.Aghast at being hounded by sweaty bachelors anxious to win the pot and her hand, Maddie turns to her brother for help. Her brother's solution is to spread the story that Maddie was pining away for the love of her life, Evan Montgomery, who left for the war and has never returned. Things go from bad to worse when the ladies in town, struck by the romance of long lost love, demand that Maddie's father rescind his proclamation and that the mayor give Maddie the deed to the dilapidated Montgomery ranch.When Maddie protests that her brother has gone too far, he replies with a shrug and the carefree statement that she needn't worry because after eight years, it's unlikely that any Montgomery would show up.As luck would have it, two years later Trevor Montgomery returns home to find a beautiful stranger living there, claiming to be his brother's fiancé. A fiancé Trevor wishes were his own. Torn between his loyalty to his brother and the love in his own heart, Trevor works to uncover the truth behind the woman who has stolen more than his family home.

Grievous Angel: An Intimate Biography of Gram Parsons


Jessica Hundley - 2005
    At the thirty-year anniversary of his death, his sound, a mix of country and rock 'n' roll, is absolutely everywhere. Popular musicians of today trace their inspiration to pick up a guitar to when they first heard his music. His songs and his style have had a lasting effect on the music of our time. Now, together with Parsons's daughter, Polly, Jessica Hundley has created an intimate and extensive biography that brings together never-before-seen photos and illustrations, unpublished letters, and in-depth interviews with some of the many artists whose work was shaped by Parsons, including Keith Richards, Emmylou Harris, Wilco, and Ryan Adams, among many others. Grievous Angel is the tribute that the legions of Parsons fans have been waiting for—a book that brings to life the story of the Southern boy who revolutionized the way music sounds.

The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards


David "Honeyboy" Edwards - 1997
    From the son of a sharecropper to an itinerant bluesman, Honeyboy’s stories of good friends Charlie Patton, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, and Robert Johnson are a godsend to blues fans. History buffs will marvel at his unique perspective and firsthand accounts of the 1927 Mississippi River flood, vagrancy laws, makeshift courts in the back of seed stores, plantation life, and the Depression.

Add Toner: A Cometbus Collection


Aaron Cometbus - 1993
    The text is lovingly handwritten, interspersed with bold graphics and illustrations. Includes never-before-published material. Add Toner is the follow-up to Despite Everything, the best-of collection from the first two decades of Cometbus, called "a classic in the subterranean world" by Time, and "the best loved zine ever" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

The Eccentricities of a Nightingale


Tennessee Williams - 1964
    Eccentricities of a Nightingale, The, by Williams, Tennessee

Revolver


Robyn Schiff - 2008
    The long, lavish, and utterly unpredictable sentences that Schiff has assembled contort as much to discover what can’t be contained as what can.     This is a book of extremes relentlessly contemporary in scope. And like the eighty-blade sportsman’s knife also described here, Revolver keeps opening and reopening to the daunting possibilities of transformation—“Splayed it is a bouquet of all the ways a point mutates.”from “Silverware by J. A. Henckels”Let me beas streamlined as my knife when I say this.As cold as my three-pronged fork thatcools the meat even as it steadies it.A pettiness in me was honedin this cutlers’ town, later bombed,in which Adolf Eichmann, who was born therealongside my wedding pattern, could hearthe constant sharpening of kniveslike some children hear the corn in their hometownstalking to them through the wind.The horizon is just the score they breathe throughlike a box of chickensbreathing through a slit.

Sound in Motion: A Performer's Guide to Greater Musical Expression


David McGill - 2007
    McGill methodically explains the frequently misunderstood "Tabuteau number system" and its relationship to note grouping-the lifeblood of music. The controversial issue of baroque performance practice is also addressed. Instrumentalists and vocalists alike will find that many of the ideas presented in this book will help develop their musicianship as well as their understanding of what makes a performance "musical."